


Notes or Minutes

by raven_aorla



Series: Time Out of Mind [9]
Category: 18th Century CE RPF, Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Courtroom Drama, Gen, Humor, Implied/Referenced Gore, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Jay's gotten better enough to be a journalist again, John Laurens is Too Good for Us All, Past Attempted Patient Abuse, Past patient-on-patient violence, Samuel Seabury is Better Than You Thought, Script Format, Solidarity, psych ward au, ten months after Sharps Hour
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-29
Updated: 2016-07-04
Packaged: 2018-07-11 00:38:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 11,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7017160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raven_aorla/pseuds/raven_aorla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>J.JAY: I promise I'll show you all my notes or minutes. I'll only use what will help me illuminate <i>Vernon Psychiatric Crisis Center vs. Howe and Cornwallis </i></p><p>T.JEFF: Cool. My daughter was kinda disappointed this isn't going to be televised. Isn't that cute?</p><p>A.HAM: You have a daughter?!</p><p>LAF: No need to sound so appalled, Hammie, it's a common thing for adults to have daughters. Also common to not discuss them with people they bicker against when there are, ah, more important things going on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. This is going to focus entirely on the Sharps Hour crew's testimonies, because it's really about how they were then vs. how they are now, not about the trial. 
> 
> 2\. It would be unwieldy for all original 10 to testify (they'd run out of new info to provide, for one thing) and also not in-character. Friedrich and Pierre consider themselves redundant and don't want to risk Pierre's family finding them out, and James would be under tremendous stress with no real point to it. Franklin sends his love but has too much (and so many) to do.
> 
> 3\. As history has not provided me with a last name for Cato, I did my best to find one appropriate for my version's backstory.

_This section is from before the trial and contains quotations from: TB, AH, TJ, SS, JL, Lafayette (how to acronym??), and CD*, along with myself. Sarah, if you find this out of place, please put it somewhere nobody else will stumble on it. It will NOT be used for my project. It is for my own personal records. I've missed these people._

[A meeting in a small hotel conference room near the courthouse. Theodosia Burr, Senior, has gathered the witnesses who aren't professionally connected to the case for what amounts to a pregame pep talk. Eliza Schuyler foisted a bunch of pastries on AH beforehand, for him to share.] 

T. BURR  
Thank you for listening to my final, unofficial briefing, gentlemen. I would prefer to be the one questioning you on the stand, but as Aaron's going to testify...

A. HAM  
Don't worry about it. I've heard Pendleton's the sort of person you'd want with you in a crisis.

T. BURR  
If it makes any of you less nervous, when he was in his old profession, Aaron worked with Judge Van Ness and has a high opinion of him. Any questions?

S. SEA  
You're sure that Jay is the only person here for media related reasons?

J. JAY (me)  
I promise I'll show you all my notes or minutes. I'll only use what will illuminate _Vernon Psychiatric Crisis Center vs. Howe and Cornwallis_

T. JEFF  
My daughter was kinda disappointed this isn't going to be televised. Isn't that cute?

A. HAM  
You have a daughter?!

LAF  
No need to sound so appalled, Hammie, it's a common thing for adults to have daughters. Also common to not discuss them with people they bicker against when there are, ah, more important things going on.

J. LAUR  
Don't imply that Thomas is inevitably a bad dad...I've heard George King is a great dad, all things considered. 

T. JEFF  
Ya'll don't take your absentee/abusive daddy issues out on me, boys.

J. LAUR  
Sorry, I could have been more tactful...

LAF  
Thomas. I consider you a friend. Allude to John's pain again, and that will become decidedly and permanently untrue. Both of you, this is not appropriate or, or seemly.

S. SEA  
It's been ten whole months since King hurt me. I'd hoped we'd moved beyond this sort of thing.

[Almost ten whole seconds of shamed silence.]

A. HAM  
You're right. Sorry, Sam. Sorry, John. And Lafayette.

T. JEFF  
Um...

A. HAM  
Sorry to you, too. Your turn.

T. JEFF  
What he said, but from me.

[AH coughs something that sounds rather like "eloquence!"]

J. LAUR  
I have a question.

T. BURR  
Good. Yes. Please. 

J. LAUR  
Cato, we don't dislike you, but why are you here?

*[Cato Diaketé is the men's first floor ward night shift tech 5/7 nights a week; don't know him well, remember to talk privately later.]

C. DIA  
Um, I fell asleep during the Vernon/Kings' Imports employee briefing...I have 'jet lag', so to speak. Mr. Pendleton said I should come here anyway because I'm really anxious, and he considers himself 'extremely competent but not very reassuring'. I got picked up by the cops as a suspect once. Didn't get charged, but...Can I read your notes too, the ones about me? Thanks. 

A. HAM  
Why isn't John Adams in our group rather than the pro group? I personally prefer having Cato in his stead, but it's odd.

T. JEFF  
He considers his role as having been a temporary undercover agent rather than a patient. I tried arguing with him about it. ABIGAIL tried arguing with him about it. Why is Lafayette testifying?

LAF  
All will become clear, my friends. The name of the defending lawyer again, please?

A. HAM  
Levi Weeks. Who himself was acquitted of murder a few years ago. Followed his trial closely. Whole thing was fascinating. 

C. DIA  
Is there coffee?

T. BURR  
There will be time to have coffee if you want it.

C. DIA  
Thank you. 

A. HAM  
Tangent, but. Before I forget. Cato, maybe you know: Why did Eliza transfer to Adolescent Ward?

C. DIA  
They wanted a higher ratio of female staff. Decided it would be good for the non-male adolescents feeling safer. I've heard she's got a gift for helping young people in need. Why?

A. HAM  
Because when she gave me the pastry box she told me about the switch, then stuck a piece of paper in my shirt pocket, and it's a phone number...

T. JEFF  
Oh god, the bigamist boy wonder strikes again.

J. LAUR  
Just to warn you, Alexander is going to make some sort of reference to him being better at consent culture than you are in four...three...two...

A. HAM  
John knows me so well. 

[TJ coughs, and it sounds suspiciously like "biblically!"]

J. LAUR  
(Putting a hand on top of AH's twitchy one on the table.) You know that's inaccurate but not insulting, right? I thought you managed to comprehend the concept of queerplatonic relationships before you were discharged.

T. BURR  
Now I see what Aaron meant. Maybe it's all for the best that I'm handing you off to Pendleton. 

S. SEA  
Sorry we're being troublesome, ma'am. At least we can all agree it's wonderful to see Jay looking and sounding so well.

EVERYONE  
(variations on loud assent)

[it's the nice kind of embarrassing]


	2. show to Lafayette later

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There was a moment in Sharps Hour when John mentioned Lafayette to Cornwallis and noticed Cornwallis seeming impressed and/or intimidated. I finally figured out how to resolve that little thread.

_[This followed Dr. Washington's testimony, notes are filed separately. Asterisks indicate moments I decided not worth writing down]_

[When told to state his name for the record]

LAFAYETTE  
Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette. 

(Considers the facial expressions of those around him, takes a deep breath.) 

My American driver's license uses "Gilbert du Motier de Lafayette". In a setting such as this, it should be written as "Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette", and when addressing me verbally, either "Marquis de Lafayette" or "Marquis". As I believe there are no others with such a title here, you will not need to elaborate every time. I apologize for being pedantic, but I have a long tradition I've promised to uphold, though in modified form, especially when so official...

JUDGE VAN NESS  
There's no need to apologize for explaining your proper terms of address, but we need to move on. 

LAFAYETTE  
Ah yes. Thank you. Oh, oh, oh, "Lafayette" alone is fine here in third person!

JUDGE VAN NESS  
Understood.

***

PENDLETON  
Marquis, what is your affiliation with Vernon?

LAFAYETTE  
None official. During the events we are discussing here today, I happened to be close friends with multiple patients and was visiting them on a regular basis. One of these friends had previously spent time there a few years ago and I visited him then, too. I have also kept a father-son connection with Dr. Washington since he, his wife Martha, and his then-foster-son Alexander Hamilton were my American host family.

PENDLETON  
And in the course of your visits, did you have any encounters with the defendants?

LAFAYETTE  
Yes. With Security Officer Cornwallis. Or Mr. Cornwallis, since he is no longer in that job? Cornwallis. 

PENDLETON  
On what date?

LAFAYETTE  
September 3. 

PENDLETON  
Describe, if you will, the circumstances of the encounter.

LAFAYETTE  
I...I had just brought my friend John. John Laurens. Helped him check in. Afterwards I was shaken. I knew he was in good hands, but he was not in a good state. I decided I would wait until Washington had a long enough break between patients and chat with him before leaving. I asked permission to walk around the non-walled parts of grounds in the meantime...

PENDLETON  
What time of day was this?

LAFAYETTE  
Sometime between 4 and 5 PM.

PENDLETON  
And you met Cornwallis during this walk?

LAFAYETTE  
"Met" sounds more friendly than is justified. He was in a secluded corner of a garden, sitting on a bench, and he had a folder he was reading from.

PENDLETON  
Was this upsetting to you?

LAFAYETTE  
It was the same folder all of John's confidential information had gone into shortly beforehand. It had John's name on it.

PENDLETON  
What did you do?

LAFAYETTE  
(Waves aggressively.) "Hey! You shouldn't have that!" 

PENDLETON  
And his reaction?

LAFAYETTE  
Curled around it, sort of, and asked who the hell I was. I said I was Lafayette, friend to John and others in the ward, and I knew a security guard should not be able to read such a file. He tried to convince me I misunderstood the situation. I told him we would walk back to the reception area now, and he would return the file he clearly took by accident, and I would mention this to his superiors as a matter of carelessness rather than malice.

PENDLETON  
Who did you take your complaint to?

LAFAYETTE  
To my regret, Director Howe.

PENDLETON  
Why to your regret?

LAFAYETTE  
I now believe Cornwallis was working under Howe's orders. Or in equal partnership. I don't know their dynamic. 

***

WEEKS  
You mentioned believing Cornwallis to have been acting with Howe.

LAFAYETTE  
Or for. I won't presume.

WEEKS  
Your logic being?

LAFAYETTE  
I have since heard much evidence that Cornwallis doesn't give a damn about patient privacy and that Howe stood to benefit if he knew how better to manipulate the situation in his "benefactors'" favor.

WEEKS  
What else did you say to Cornwallis? Any further warnings or threats, however rhetorical?

LAFAYETTE  
Mr. Weeks, my oath to tell the whole truth compels me to inform you that I did not threaten him rhetorically. When the Marquis de Lafayette tells you that he's never going to stop until you drop, and he'll burn you and scatter the remains, he is being serious.


	3. two Schuyler testimonies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The in-story link will take you to the chapter of Sharps Hour where Washington tells John & co. about the bigger picture, if you'd like a refresher.

_[I have longer, more organized notes pertaining to each of these "professional" testimonies - those from witnesses professionally connected to the case - but this is the first page of a cheat sheet of the more memorable quotations.[See also: Overview (near bottom of page, courtesy of G.W.)](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6152521/chapters/14694397) ] _

Preceding witnesses, notes in separate file and not quoted here: 

\- Philip Schuyler (how suspicions were roused)

\- John Adams (how his stint in Vernon also served to observe George King's behavior and staff's efforts to mitigate)

\- Abigail Adams (compiling data out of fear that Vernon might face a lawsuit)

\- Sybil Ludington (during her internship, her boss Edward King accidentally forwarded her an email (Exhibit 1) in which he tells Howe, "I don't care if Charlotte gets squeamish about your methods. She's not the one who signing the checks. Feel free not to tell her.")

**Note: Though Edward, George, and Charlotte King are repeatedly implicated in allegations, they have all fled to England. The prosecution has expressed no interest in pressing charges/filing a lawsuit against George or Charlotte, even if feasible (see Seabury quotations for more details).**

\----  
1\. Elizabeth "Eliza" Schuyler

PENDLETON  
Ms. Schuyler, in Exhibit 2, you recorded yourself requesting that Howe authorize that George King be transferred to "Men's Second Floor Ward", correct?

E. SCHUYLER  
No.

PENDLETON  
No?

E. SCHUYLER  
I politely, but firmly insisted. Not requested.

PENDLETON  
Can you describe Howe's body language? During that recording, I mean, not in general.

E. SCHUYLER  
He was on his phone. As in looking at it and pressing things, not as in talking on it. He didn't look up at me.

***

WEEKS  
Are you related to Philip Schuyler?

E. SCHUYLER  
He's my father.

WEEKS  
Do any other family members work at Vernon?

E. SCHUYLER  
My sisters Angelica and Margarita. One of our brothers applied for a job there a few years ago and wasn't hired. Like our other siblings, he ended up drifting elsewhere. A remarkable number of people believe my father has no sons. It's turned into a joke among Angelica and Peggy and me. 

WEEKS  
Have any concerns been raised about the possibility of nepotism?

E. SCHUYLER  
As my father works for Legal, I work for Medical Supervision, Angelica for Psychotherapy, and Pe - Margarita for Enrichment, and none of these divisions have any sort of power over each other...no.

WEEKS  
Mr. Schuyler is currently Acting Director, is he not?

E. SCHUYLER  
As he has already explained, Vernon has been having trouble finding a replacement for Howe while the outcome of the case remains undecided. My father is keeping things going in the meantime. I would have noticed if the powers of a temporary position, one he doesn't particularly like, had given him the ability to break the laws of linear time in order to give three of his children's careers a boost. If you want to make me a part of such a narrative, you're working in the wrong genre.

\----

2\. Dr. Angelica Schuyler-Church

WEEKS  
Can you characterize your interactions with George King III?

SCHUYLER-CHURCH  
I can characterize them as something you need a subpoena to hear anything about whatsoever. Ask me about my coworkers, current or former. Some of them would find it very convenient to blame everything on George King, as if he were the sole actor onstage in our drama. I'd have to be naive to set that aside. Maybe that is why -

WEEKS  
No further questions!

VAN NESS  
If you would like to finish your sentence, Doctor?

SCHUYLER-CHURCH  
I'm fine, Your Honor. I wanted to see if he'd be distressed enough to cut me off. (Smiles)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you feel like any details are slightly different from the original scenario, that probably means I've gone back and changed continuity in a way Philip Schuyler can't. Or maybe I got confused. Usually the first one, I promise.


	4. the first objection

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for vague references to Henry Laurens' A+ parenting.

[Immediately after Martha Laurens states her name for the record.]

JEFFERSON  
Whaaaaat.

VAN NESS  
Do you have something to share with us, Mr. Jefferson?

JEFFERSON  
Not...not at this time, Your Honor. I apologize for my outburst.  
(Glances at John Laurens, who nods solemnly and does a throat-slitting gesture.)

PENDLETON  
Ms. Laurens, what is your job at Vernon?

M. LAURENS  
Evening Shift tech, Mr. Pendleton. 

PENDLETON  
What does that entail?

M. LAURENS  
Assisting the Evening Shift nurse, supervising dinner as well as the allotted social and free time, dispensing bedtime meds, making sure everything and everyone is ready for lights-out, and along with - though it's called "Evening", if you think about...uh...

(Pause)

I'm being more detailed than you wanted, sorry. 

PENDLETON  
You're fine. Did you observe any actions made by either the defendants that caused you concern?

M. LAURENS  
Yes.

PENDLETON  
Please elaborate?

M. LAURENS  
Sorry. Um. So I wanted to talk to Director Howe about something - George King's time in the ward was soon after I got the job, so I was still learning the ropes? It was a tricky situation, and I didn't know yet that the best admin person for _our_ ward was someone else. For consulting. The best person for someone who works in our ward to consult. Anyway, I came to work early to catch him, wasn't sure if it was an appointment-making thing...oh god too many details. 

PENDLETON  
Maybe it'll help if I ask you to tell me what it was Mr. Howe did that caused you concern.

M. LAURENS  
Yes. As I approached his office, I heard him talking to someone, along the lines of, "King's behavior is more erratic than we can predict. We need a contingency plan. Rules shmules." I remember that last part because it was so hilariously juvenile, but he sounded so serious. 

PENDLETON  
Did you hear anything else?

M. LAURENS  
I didn't want to be rude and eavesdrop, so I ran away. The coworker I later confided in recommended that I discuss the matter with someone else, who provided me with satisfactory advice. 

****

WEEKS  
I find it interesting that the prosecution did not inquire as to what matter you wished to consult with Mr. Howe.

M. LAURENS  
You do realize that's not a question.

WEEKS  
Touché. Do you also find it interesting?

M. LAURENS  
Maybe Mr. Pendleton is less into inquiring about possibly painful subjects of unlikely relevance.

VAN NESS  
She has a point. How is this relevant?

WEEKS  
I'm merely trying to establish a general pattern of staff and patient interactions, in order to put my clients' alleged actions and motivations in context.

VAN NESS  
Very well, but some friendly advice: try not to come across as a bully. It's free ammunition for your enemies. The situation is fraught.

WEEKS  
Noted, Your Honor. Ms. Laurens, did the delicate matter have anything to do with your fellow witness _John_ Laurens?

M. LAURENS  
Yes.

WEEKS  
Elucidate, if you will.

M. LAURENS  
Shed light upon it? Okay. Fine. When I was in my senior year of high school, my brother John suddenly disappeared from my life. My father told me and my siblings - our mother is deceased - that he'd gotten mixed up in criminal activity, was in prison, and we were forbidden to attempt to contact him. I was skeptical, but I was terrified of my father. That's a whole other story. I ended up accepting it as true, because the other options were...I didn't know where to go if it wasn't true.

As time goes on I go from severely underweight to what you see now, and start wearing glasses. Roughly seven years later, I come to work and my brother is sitting at a table being gently cajoled to eat something. He's suicidal, traumatized, and has a gunshot wound. No criminal record. And he doesn't recognize me. 

That, Mr. Weeks, is what I needed help figuring out how to handle. I apologize to anyone who thinks I should have been able to determine what to do on my own.

WEEKS  
It would be unreasonable to expect you to easily handle such unusual situation. 

M. LAURENS  
I'd really appreciate it if the jury would stop staring slack-jawed at me. I'm not someone in a telenovela. 

VAN NESS  
Order, order, c'mon people.

WEEKS  
A telenovela?

M. LAURENS  
A kind of soap opera. John and I have been watching a bunch to help him resuscitate his Spanish.

WEEKS  
Pardon my ignorance. So you revealed yourself to John during his hospitalization?

M. LAURENS  
No, after. I wanted to give him the opportunity to figure it out himself, and then I couldn't come up with a way to tell him without (a) embarrassing him or making him feel guilty for not recognizing me, or (b) being so distracted by that aspect of his troubles that he didn't make progress on the others.

WEEKS  
Who recommended this course of action?

M. LAURENS  
His therapist.

WEEKS  
And the therapist considered lying to a patient, albeit by omission, to be a healthy course of action?

M. LAURENS  
John has subsequently told me that he really didn't want to be dealing with family stuff then, and he's glad I kept my distance, even if he feels sheepish...why has a woman walked into the courtroom waving a sign that says "LEVI I FORGIVE YOU"? 

WEEKS  
What? (Whips head around to see.)

M. LAURENS  
See, if that hadn't been a trick to demonstrate my point, I don't think you'd be representing your clients at peak performance for the rest of the trial. 

I wouldn't tell you any of the following if John hadn't given me permission. The real reason our father cut him off was that John came out to him as gay. My brother repeatedly stated - in my hearing, not knowing who I was yet - that he was terrified to imagine any family members knowing about his circumstances. So, in my capacity as a loving, also-frightened little sister, I thought I should let him heal a bit before making him face all those emotions.

WEEKS  
But surely it would have assisted his recovery to have such trauma addressed.

M. LAURENS  
Imaginary woman forgives you, Levi. Surely you will do really well for the rest of the trial, and you won't at all wish that maybe she waited until after you were done and had time to think about other things. Do you know how hard it is to help people who are in pain? It's much harder when it's all your call.

WEEKS  
Did the therapist say you had the right to - 

PENDLETON  
Objection, Your Honor, irrelevant as well as bullying the witness.

VAN NESS  
Sustained. Defense counsel Weeks, sit down.

***

PENDLETON  
How is John doing now?

M. LAURENS  
(Smiles) Well, you can ask him yourself later, but we're roommates and he really likes his job. This is the happiest I've ever seen him. He's not, like, cured, he has bad times, that's one of the reasons we live together. He wouldn't feel secure living with his boyfriend, even though they're solid and sickeningly cute. But he's got help and people who accept him, and we're never ever ever going to talk to our father again.

PENDLETON  
Are you glad he went to Vernon? Setting your reunion aside, merely on the strength of his health?

M. LAURENS  
'Glad' is not the word I'm looking for. There's so much more. It saved his life.

PENDLETON  
Thank you. No further questions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These witnesses are all turning out really sassy. I am okay with that.
> 
> In case you forgot: Thomas hit on "Martha the Tech" a bunch of times until James called him out on it.


	5. recess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "If you hadn't apologized before you knew she was my sister, this would be a nastier conversation."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for vague references to Jeffersonian creepitude.

[After a recess is called, a large contingent of pro-Vernon witnesses retreats to a quiet room Theodosia managed to reserve for them. I follow. There are three pizzas and a number of sides and soft drinks on a table, with a note saying, **From the rest of us. Spoonies, we get the job done!** ] 

_*I later discovered that the Madisons wished to send fancier catering, but in the Slack negotiations that coordinated this kind gesture, the other sponsors argued for something more casual and playful to foster a relaxed mood. Also between them they knew every non-employee's favorite toppings, which is why each pizza half was a different flavor. Franklin remembered mine..._

People quoted in this section:  
\- T. and A. Burr  
\- M. and J. Laurens  
\- Hamilton  
\- Jefferson  
\- Seabury  
\- Diaketé  
\- Lafayette  


***

T. BURR  
This happened. It's very sweet. Who's Lewis?

HAMILTON  
Sad nature dude is showing solidarity! 

LAURENS  
He did say 'tomorrow there'll be more of you', but I thought he was doing his sleep-deprived cryptic babble thing. 

[A. BURR provides his wife with a (to me) inaudible, but presumably more comprehensible, explanation.]

***

SEABURY  
Is it acceptable to those present if I say grace?

DIAKETÉ  
I'd prefer you say it silently, or at least personally, rather than on behalf of all of us?

SEABURY  
Oh! Of course. I should have known.

DIAKETÉ  
No problem. You asked first.

***

J. LAURENS  
You holding up, Missy? (pulls out a chair for his sister, who nods and pats the one next to her)

T. BURR  
Mr. Pendleton asked me to make a quick announcement. Go ahead and eat, we have limited time. You may have noticed Weeks asking a bunch of invasive questions that with little to do with his clients. Thing is, Nurse Hercules Mulligan gave Cato a ride here this morning, stopped to use the bathroom, and heard Weeks asking Howe if he could think of any other compromising backstories among the staff they might be able to use.

M. LAURENS  
Hercules told us before he went home. Mr. Pendleton wasn't super surprised that they're desperately trying to discredit us. He asked if any of us were ok with letting Weeks make himself look like an invasive jerkface. Usually Nathaniel - that's his first name, do we all know that? - would have objected to Weeks' line of questioning much sooner. Saying "it's much harder when it's all your call" was my way of tapping out. 

A. BURR  
I have also volunteered as drama-bait. It might get obvious if we try a similar tactic with your  
former-patient testimonies, and he'd be less likely to take the bait anyway. Please don't volunteer.

HAMILTON  
(Sitting up, oddly intrigued) What drama do you have?

A. BURR  
I'll keep all my plans close to my chest. Wait for it.

LAFAYETTE  
What practical tactical brilliance. (Elegantly sips root beer from a glass bottle - despite the only other sodas in view being in big plastic ones - and steals pepperoni from Hamilton.)

SEABURY  
(Anxiously) Where did Cato go?

[T. BURR points to a far corner of the room, where C. Diaketé is curled up on the floor.]

T. BURR  
Shortly after he expressed interest in coffee, he remembered that he mustn't, because it's Ramadan. So he said he'd have a catnap instead of lunch. I offered to find him a couch or something. He said he's happy with the loan of my folded-up blazer for a pillow.

HAMILTON  
Does anyone have an idea why he's wrapped himself in a U.S. Postal Service uniform jacket? With a nametag that starts with B? I can't read the rest of it from here.

A. BURR  
Yes.

HAMILTON  
Care to share?

A. BURR  
Ask him when he's awake.

J. LAURENS  
Aaron has a point, QP(?). Hey, Lewis must have mailed a card to whoever organized this. It got hidden under the vegetarian pizza box. 

M. LAURENS  
His boyfriend's converted him to vegetarianism. But also cooks well and shares the food, so it's hard for me to complain. Can you find me a boyfriend, Alexander?

[Hamilton does a "hey, I dunno" sort of cheerful shrug.] 

JEFFERSON  
I'm sure Dolley organized this. You should see her fundraise. She can work with pretty much anyone to accomplish a goal.

J. LAURENS  
It's a secretary bird. They look weird and fragile, but their primary method of hunting is stomping venomous snakes to death. Oh, Thomas, a word.

M. LAURENS  
Jack...

J. LAURENS  
No pistols or other weapons, I promise. 

JEFFERSON  
Can I finish my garlic bread?

J. LAURENS  
Sure.

HAMILTON  
(Cackles) Enjoy your last meal.

LAFAYETTE  
Remember we need him for testifying. No brutality.

J. LAURENS  
_Mais oui._ (Salutes with an invisible sword.)

T. BURR  
Were these guys always like this?

A. BURR  
I used to spend more time watching the tension grow. Also there was more crying.

[General murmurs of agreement.]

***

[Jefferson follows J. Laurens to the far corner C.D. isn't sleeping in, partially hidden behind a potted plant. This conversation is quiet but audible. By this point Seabury and the Burrs have left to privately consult with Pendleton and Molly Pitcher, as A. Burr and Pitcher were the staff members who first discovered King's attack on Seabury.]

JEFFERSON  
Do, uh, do you wanna talk elsewhere?

J. LAURENS  
If it's all the same to you, I want to talk here so people who want to ignore us can, but stay in the room so nobody thinks I'm doing something extreme, and also so neither my sister or my buddies expire from curiosity. That cool with you?

JEFFERSON  
I suppose. 

J. LAURENS  
If you hadn't apologized before you knew she was my sister, this would be a nastier conversation. The respect with which you treat a woman should have nothing to do with her connection to another man, and I have very strong feelings about sexual harassment. But you did. Go thank James you did. Missy says it was a pretty half-assed apology, though. You never apologized to Sally, either, just stayed away when forced to.

JEFFERSON  
I wasn't in a good frame of mind at the time. A lot of us weren't...

J. LAURENS  
Alexander wised up and apologized to people of his own volition when he could think more clearly. He's not perfect, but he is honest about his screwups. You apologized when people pressured you into it. Which is why I'm not going to ask you to apologize again, because I doubt it'll be any more sincere. I'm not really going to rip into you either, because we both need as many spoons as we can today.

JEFFERSON  
Then what are you going to do?

J. LAURENS  
I told Alexander you could very well be a good father. A lot of men have tunnel vision when it comes to loved ones as opposed to all other people who aren't cis men. What's your daughter's name?

JEFFERSON  
Martha Jr., but she goes by Patsy.

J. LAURENS  
Adds a creepy layer, you know that right?

JEFFERSON  
Well, there were some others with other names, but those all died.

J. LAURENS  
I'm sorry for your losses, but are you _really_ bringing up your dead children to avoid getting called out on your wrongdoings?

JEFFERSON  
Um. Let's just have you continue with the callout.

J. LAURENS  
Patsy grows up and gets a job. Her first real job out of school. A man she meets at work, roughly twenty years older than her, says everything to her that you said to Martha Laurens, and/or Sally Hemings. How do you feel? Much more importantly, how do you think she feels?

JEFFERSON  
Ah.

J. LAURENS  
(Cracks knuckles) I don't know about you, but I could go for some cinnamon sugar sticks that are clearly repurposed pizza dough. 

LAFAYETTE  
I saved you some!

ALEXANDER  
I saved you one of the icing cups.

[They give him the food items in question when he sits down, Lafayette sliding the breadsticks past Hamilton, who is sitting on J. Lauren's right. M. Laurens, on his other side, squeezes her brother's left shoulder. Now that some of the party has left, Lafayette has put some chairs away and everyone remaining has spread out, albeit unevenly. This means his seat is across from J. Laurens.]

LAFAYETTE  
Come sit between me and Jay, Thomas. We can serve as buffers. The empty chair across from you is Cato's if he gets up in time and wishes for it.

THOMAS  
Thanks, but I need to chat with Pendleton. (Leaves)

J. LAURENS  
(To his sister) I know you could have done all that yourself.

M. LAURENS  
Yeah, but I didn't want to. Feel appropriately 'rawr, leave my sis alone'?

J. LAURENS  
I will put my sister's happiness before mine...much of the time. Not when she hogs the newly opened icing, for example.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Eliza Hamilton, as we know, raised funds for the Washington Monument. Guess who joined forces with her? Dolley Madison. I like to think they became bffs. (In later life, James Madison ended up retroactively agreeing with Hamilton over a bunch of things they used to fight over.)
> 
> 2\. In sport fencing, excessive aggression that might injure your opponent is against the rules and referred to as "brutality".


	6. Thomas and a few nice declarations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note on timeline: I originally envisioned Sharps Hour as taking place in September 2016, but I have since realized that for the background presidential race stuff to make sense, Sharps Hour took place in September 2015. Therefore, this fic is taking place around the end of June 2016.

PENDLETON  
If I may make brief statement?

VAN NESS  
Go on.

PENDLETON  
The Vernon staff members among the witnesses previously agreed to answer tangential, potentially uncomfortable questions if the defense needs the information "to put the defendants' actions in context" within the microcosm of the psych ward and offices wherein these events took place. Up to the point where it becomes gratuitously personal, of course. We all want matters to be as clear to the jury as possible. Thus I have been sparing with objections so far. 

However: we have entered the portion of the trial where some of the witnesses were _patients_ during the incident. Though they have all returned to normal life, it was a time of great vulnerability for them. They are here to discuss matters which pertain directly to the charges. You'd best believe my objections concerning relevance will be on a hair-trigger basis. That is all.

***

PENDLETON  
Exhibit 3 which I have just read aloud is your work, correct?

JEFFERSON  
Except for the signatures, a little bit of rewording via committee, one guy acting as copyeditor, and the result of Alexander's little hissy fit about whether to use the word "inalienable" or "unalienable", yes. 

PENDLETON  
What do you mean by 'hissy fit'?

JEFFERSON  
Our personalities clashed, and there was a fair amount of harmless bickering between us. Annoyance. In retrospect, I applaud the staff's patience with us and their efforts to keep it from getting out of hand. You can ask him about it later.

PENDLETON  
Did you consider yourself in _serious_ enmity with anyone?

JEFFERSON  
George King. Nobody else. The rest of us were like - have you ever been to a family reunion where an overlarge fraction of those present were adolescents, who were fond of each other, but also busy having emotional turmoil? Like that. Sorry, I'm more eloquent when I get to make a few drafts first. 

PENDLETON  
What was your rationale behind composing this 'Petition of Frustration'?

JEFFERSON  
It was clear to me that the ward staff were on our side regarding the inappropriateness of King's presence in our ward rather than a higher-security one. However, their jobs were potentially on the line, and I respected that. As it says in the Petition, the most expedient way to effect change was for we, the patients, to make our stance clear. Mr. Gwinnett and Mr. Hancock respectively had a personal grievance and a greater knowledge of Men's Second Floor Ward, where we believed King should be transferred. They were also not required to report any Men's First Floor Ward goings-on. 

***

WEEKS  
To quote the preamble of the Petition: "Some of us have committed minor acts of aggression in the past, but never with such manipulative callousness, and never with such despicable choices of targets." Could you please elaborate?

JEFFERSON  
I'm sure you're itching to ask about the time I landed in court myself. I'll save you the agony of trying to decide whether it's worth Mr. Pendleton standing up to your mouth. I was acquitted of physical assault. You were acquitted of first-degree murder. If you think being acquitted of something somehow makes a person look bad, what'd I miss?

WEEKS  
You're jumping to conclusions.

JEFFERSON  
Hah! You hear this guy? Man desperately grabs at slender threads and implies the MWFF staff is a hot mess, says 'You're jumping to conclusions'.

VAN NESS  
Mr. Jefferson.

JEFFERSON  
Sorry, Your Honor.

WEEKS  
To clarify, my query is: what your definition is of "manipulative callousness"?

JEFFERSON  
(Quieter.) As I said, sometimes we fractured into factions, but there was a certain basic decency between guys who didn't like each other as much. When I opened up about some personal tragedy, for example, Alexander showed only compassion. Some of us had unusual but important psychological needs. George King went out of his way to exacerbate emotional distress by playing on the weaknesses _we were there to work on_. He was getting away with it, because when we weren't looking, his brother got Howe in his pocket.

WEEKS  
Your resentment is understandable. How about "despicable targets"?

JEFFERSON  
Heading straight into a psychological abyss here. King deliberately reduced one of the suicide survivors among us to tears. That's what I was referring to. I admit it can be pretty easy to do it by accident, but it wasn't an accident with him. 

WEEKS  
Why is Samuel Seabury's signature not on the document? Did he refuse to sign?

JEFFERSON  
We didn't tell him about it. (Rubs his face with his hands.) He was thoroughly convinced that King was troubled and misunderstood. That we could fix him through sheer sympathy. We were afraid he'd spoil the plan. I now have regrets about that strategy. 

WEEKS  
Thank you for your candor. Last question.

JEFFERSON  
(Flatly.) Hooray.

WEEKS  
Why did you exclaim loudly when Martha Laurens stated her name?

PENDLETON  
Objection! Relevance?

VAN NESS  
Hm. Do you wish to answer, Mr. Jefferson? I'll sustain the objection if you're uncomfortable.

JEFFERSON  
Might as well put it out there. Rumors only grow. I didn't know she was John's sister before that moment, and I was embarrassed because I had flirted with her in a way that I considered playful, but others observed it as being inappropriate. She was very professional about it and accepted my apology after I realized. I was worried John would be vengeful about it, but during the recess we came to an understanding. I've learned a lot from all this. Sorry again.

[The Laurens siblings make identical "shoot a pistol and then blow out the smoke" gestures.]

***

PENDLETON  
What lead you to the the conclusion that the ward staff were on your side and simply unable to act further?

JEFFERSON  
If anyone had seen Eliza, Molly, Aaron, Cato, Martha Laurens, Betsy, Hercules, Phyllis, Penelope, York, or Israel - the sum total of the exclusively MWFF staff at the time - interact with any one of us, even for five minutes, you would know. No other conclusion was possible.

PENDLETON  
No further questions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Has everyone seen the Epic Rap Battle between Thomas Jefferson and Fredrick Douglass? It's magnificent. Good on them for choosing a political figure who was born into slavery, mentioning Sally Hemings, having excellent rhymes, and including a swivel chair.


	7. Lawyer Refuted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reverend Samuel Seabury Presents Free Thoughts on the Proceedings of this Trial

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning:
> 
> This discusses That Thing George King Did to Sam in Sharps Hour. Detail level is slightly greater.

[Molly Pitcher provides a brief, matter-of-fact testimony to accompany Exhibit 4, photographs and official doctor's reports related to Rev. Seabury's wounds at the hands of George King. Two members of the jury, and one of the witnesses - not Sam - look away. She says the worst part for her was "the moment Sam realized he'd been tricked". Sam consented to this, but has requested that I leave the details out of my own writing. Weeks has the respect, or at least the sense, to cross-examine Molly with utmost care.]

***

PENDLETON  
To the extent that you feel equipped to, Reverend Seabury, could you please recount the incident in your own words?

SEABURY  
Yes. Molly needs to forgive herself about my shirt tag, first off. She didn't wrong me in any way. I was in such anxiety and paranoia at the time that I was hypersensitive to anything that fed my delusions. My shirt tag was making me itch that morning, and I panicked, was convinced a surveillance device had been implanted under my skin. She solved the problem.

After lights-out I was worried the seams of a shirt might bother me, too, so I decided to sleep shirtless for the first time since arriving there. I didn't realize they used a bleach with a chemical I'm allergic to for washing the sheets. I don't bleach my sheets at home, so it slipped my mind.

PENDLETON  
What occurred as a result?

SEABURY  
My entire torso itched horrifically. It was worst on my back, though. George noticed me panicking and told me he knew I was right about the surveillance devices and their accompanying electrodes (to punish me for figuring them out, you see). We agreed Molly meant well but was unenlightened. He said he could help. He'd been the only person agreeing with me all along, you see. I had words with him when he bullied some of the others, but he was kind to me, and it was such a relief to be _believed_. He told me to heed not the rabble that screamed persecution at me. I didn't know he didn't have my interests at heart.

Like Molly said, George had been sent to the Soft Room for an hour for messing with a grate, and he told me then that he'd kept the jagged sliver of metal hidden in his sock until he got back to our room. He said he knew this was going to happen eventually. Asked if I wanted him to dig them out. I begged him to. He got up and took it to the bathroom to wash thoroughly with soap and water. When he returned, I put a few books in front of the door so they'd make a sound when Cato came to check on us. Otherwise, with our eyes shut to fool him, we'd probably miss him cracking the door open. 

PENDLETON  
You were certain he'd be that quiet?

SEABURY  
I am told he's the sneakiest, most invisible and inaudible Night Shift tech they've ever had. He'll notice if someone's eyes are open, despite not opening the door all the way. The books didn't topple over, either. They made a slight sliding noise. In any case, we now had the maximum amount of time possible to...um...

PENDLETON  
You are under no obligation to provide any particular level of detail about that.

SEABURY  
(Quiet, eyes downcast) He used a handkerchief for the blood. Put hand sanitizer in the wounds, to keep them clean. Not ashamed to say I cried as softly as I could. I kept. I kept thanking him. I said the price was a price I was willing to pay.

PENDLETON  
Do you need a moment, Reverend?

SEABURY  
I could go for a glass of water.

PENDLETON  
Of course. 

***

WEEKS  
I am genuinely sorry you went through that.

SEABURY  
I am genuinely appreciative you said that.

WEEKS  
Why did you decide not to press charges against George King III or his family?

SEABURY  
He spends his life in and out of institutions as it is, with occasional grace periods staying with his wife and children who love him and want to see him. Seems appropriate enough. Why rob his children of a little happiness, just for the sake of punishing a man whose life is not enviable to begin with? I don't need legacy. I don't need money. I especially don't need vengeance. I believe in turning the other cheek - 

WEEKS  
Then what brings you to testify against the defendants?

SEABURY  
George King's attack on me is mine to forgive. Howe's endangerment of all the patients and Cornwallis' attempt to infringe on our rights are not mine to forgive. I am not the only wronged party here. George is out of the picture, closely watched, rendered harmless. If your clients are allowed to resume work without penalty or censure, others will likely be harmed as a result. They're playing a dangerous game. I pray the Lord will show them His mercy, but I pray the court will show them your justice. 

WEEKS  
Did you seek out prosecution, or did the prosecution approach you? Perhaps they feel solicitous towards you, given - 

[Pendleton opens his mouth to object.]

SEABURY  
(Suddenly fierce) I wasn't finished telling you about turning the other cheek, Mr. Weeks.

WEEKS  
I apologize. Go on.

SEABURY  
There are multiple interpretations of the famous injunction to 'turn the other cheek' if a person strikes you on one. The one I subscribe to- and teach to the prisoners I visit in my new ministry - doesn't mean to let people hurt you and do nothing in return. It doesn't simply mean chaos and bloodshed are not a solution, either. Don't let that lead you astray. In Jesus' culture, there were ways to deal a blow to an inferior, and ways you dealt them to equals. If someone does violence to you as an inferior, you turn and give them no option but either to engage with you as an equal, or withdraw. By this you are saying, "Do you dare to hurt me without cowardice? For shame. _For shame._ " 

An example: Suppose a lawyer seeks to subtly question a witness' agency, perhaps wishing to draw a connection between the witness' determination that a case goes to a certain way, then to the witness' history of delusions and letting another person play upon those delusions. The jury has only heard from a few people who might stand to benefit from a conviction, after all, and seen some old photographs.

(Stands) Then, perhaps, the witness might offer to take his shirt off and _turn_. Would you like me to do that? 

WEEKS  
That...won't be necessary.

SEABURY  
I have a terrible understanding of government, even discounting bouts of paranoia. Yet they say I'm a rather stellar preacher, all things considered. (Sits)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you didn't see the announcement in Holiday Seasons: my latest novel, after much delay, has finally made it through the first round of edits! Yay!
> 
> Also, I'm coincidentally going to visit the real Mount Vernon on Friday. Family trip. Unfortunately the tour of the slave quarters costs extra time we won't have, and even more money. But hey, I might have to add fic to this AU to take advantage of my renewed memories of the grounds (I went there once when I was 11 or something).


	8. Hamilton is definitely abrasive, possibly persuasive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He's definitely not succinct.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize to the real, historical Levi Weeks for being a snark punching bag in this story.

HAMILTON  
No, you don't get it!

VAN NESS  
Mr. Hamilton -

HAMILTON  
I intend to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt -

VAN NESS  
I'm not planning to shoot you down. Mr. Hamilton, _sit_ down.

HAMILTON  
Right. Sorry, Your Honor. (Sits) One more thing. You've suggested that Washington can't be left to his own devices just because he used to pay me to organize his information and take over some of his correspondence. Non-confidential, not-affected-by-HIPAA information. And occasionally complained to me about his conflicts with his boss. You've suggested he doesn't care about his patients and is bad at what he does.

WEEKS  
Let the record show that I said nothing of the kind.

HAMILTON  
Let the record state that he insinuated it with all the subtlety of a gyrating walrus. Those exact words, please. I'm proud of that simile. Man, I did all that #LeviWeeksisInnocent tweeting, too.

WEEKS  
Um...thank you? No further questions are strictly necessary. I apologize for touching a nerve.

HAMILTON  
Like I said, one more thing. Nearly fifteen years ago, Doctor George Washington, as a favor to a friend, looked over some reports about tweens and teens in foster care who were acting out, just in case any of them might have hidden, more medically-based reasons. This was shortly after I ran away from my foster home of the time and spent three days and two nights wandering around and sleeping in bus shelters, trying to find my brother - yes, I have a brother, we got split up, it's a thing. I was nearly thirteen. 

I didn't know at the time that I was manic, just that I was buzzing with rage and a weird kind of elation as I walked the streets famished. It seemed like a great idea. I went back when I realized I had a big project due soon, at school, and I needed to work on it. Yeah. I know. Nothing super bad happened to me during that episode, through sheer luck. I couldn't seem to cry.

I expected to get a mostly relieved, somewhat furious reception, which I did. They were goodhearted people who were out of their depth, I know now. Didn't expect some guy to show up a few hours and ask to speak to me privately. He said that if I was interested, he and his wife would like to start the process to take me in and provide support my current environment wasn't giving me. And he explained himself, and his thoughts on what I'd been missing, and he asked what _I_ would want out of our relationship. Once I overcame my skepticism that he'd want a biracial, bisexual, possibly bipolar basket case, my conditions were never being forced into any treatment, and that he find out the contact information for my brother. He kept both promises. 

Think about where I am now. Think about where I started. The fact that I'm alive is not a miracle. I know who to thank. He's going to be quietly smug for days now that I've said that, but oh well. He keeps all his promises. That's how the other patients had no idea of our relationship - which, as I said, I had kept quiet out of not wanting to be treated differently - until I needed to convince them I knew my stuff when it came to Director Howe. Though our personalities have clashed, and though I sometimes don't play well with the best-intended of authority figures, George Washington has never let me down.

Unlike some. (Louder) Sit down, Weeks, you disappointing motherfu-

VAN NESS  
Mr. Hamilton!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a new installment to this series! "I Could Be a Morning Sunrise" is devoted to the f/f ships in this AU (and to finally passing the Bechdel test, whoops). Only one chapter up so far, but I would appreciate if you'd check it out and possibly comment. uwu


	9. Smile Less, Talk More

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aaron Burr can be a little bit frustrating to cross-examine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally got to flip through a copy of the Hamiltome (I will order it when I can), and AHHH SAMUEL SEABURY IS SO EARNEST AND FRESHFACED I WANNA SQUISH HIM. 
> 
> Sorry. Don't know what came over me. I feel like this is the only fic series where Sam is a good person who eventually gets nice things; please let me know if you've seen others.

PENDLETON  
Mr. Burr, what did George King III say to you as you escorted him out of the common room?

BURR  
He said...(Glances at Seabury, but immediately shifts his gaze to the middle distance) He said Sam begged him to do it. Referred to him as a "sweet, submissive subject" and that the wounds were "a reminder of his love". He told the other patients that he would be back.

PENDLETON  
Did he appear to show remorse at any point? 

BURR  
Not when we were explaining to him the gravity of his actions, but when Doctor Washington called Charlotte King, George shrieked "Don't do that to my poor wife!" and had to be held back from grabbing the phone.

PENDLETON  
Other witnesses have stated that Charlotte King collected her husband the following day, after he spent the night in a Second Floor Men's Ward solitary unit. Is that correct?

BURR  
Yes. 

PENDLETON  
Did you speak to her, and if so, what about?

BURR  
Yes. I told her I'd been present when Reverend Seabury's state became apparent, and asked her if she had any questions.

PENDLETON  
Did she?

BURR  
Yes.

PENDLETON  
And?

BURR  
She asked if Director Howe had ever mentioned Edward King.

PENDLETON  
Did you - that is, what was your reply?

BURR  
I said not to my knowledge, and confirmed that she meant George's brother. 

PENDLETON  
Did she say anything in response?

BURR  
Yes.

PENDLETON  
What did she say?

BURR  
"I sincerely apologize for any of my actions that may have permitted this incident to take place." She said that she had power of attorney over her husband, but "that wretched knob" Edward had taken over their finances and she suspected him of "playing dirty" to protect the company's reputation. When I told her that her husband's victim was not seriously hurt, she said, "Thank God for small favors." She also promised that we'd never see her or George again unless it was to make amends.

***

WEEKS  
Mr. Burr, I understand that your wife, Theodosia Burr, has unofficially assisted Mr. Pendleton with this case.

BURR  
(Smiles politely)

WEEKS  
Mr. Burr, sir?

BURR  
I'm waiting for a question.

WEEKS  
Am I correct?

BURR  
In the absence of telepathy or extensive insight into what it's like in your shoes, I can't accurately answer questions about how well you understand concepts. 

WEEKS  
I mean, am I correct about your wife assisting?

BURR  
Yes.

WEEKS  
How do you feel about that?

BURR  
I'm always pleased to see her do well in her field.

WEEKS  
Has she previously been involved in legal action involving you or Vernon?

BURR  
Somewhat.

WEEKS  
Are you deliberately obfuscating?

BURR  
Define "obfuscating".

WEEKS  
Never mind. Including any details that might possibly be relevant - so we're not here all day - please elaborate on the legal action you have affirmed took place.

(Burr stops smiling. He takes a deep breath.)

BURR  
I used to be a paralegal, but my struggles with Borderline Personality Disorder proved detrimental to both my job performance and ability to enjoy the work. I spent some time inpatient at Vernon, in the same ward where I now work, and found it such a life-changing experience that I decided to help others as I had been helped. I was fortunate to have sufficient resources to sustain myself as I trained to be a medical technician, with a specialization in psychiatric care. The legal action, such as it was, came when Director Howe had already accepted my job application, only to rescind it when he learned of my history. He claimed it was policy to not hire former patients, not a matter of my "condition". I had already ascertained from Philip Schuyler that there is no such policy, and that one of my potential coworkers had previously been a patient. Howe then said, and I quote, "Depression's one thing, a personality disorder is another." Theodosia, at that point my romantic partner but not yet my wife, threatened to file suit for discrimination. Mr. Schuyler refused to support Howe, and Doctor Washington theatrically handed me an employee ID card right in front of Howe and told me to close the office door on my way out.

***

PENDLETON  
Have you ever been reprimanded for improper workplace conduct, or any other form of disciplinary action for anything you have said or done on the job?

BURR  
Do you mean as a paralegal or as a med tech?

PENDLETON  
Both.

BURR  
As a paralegal, thirteen times. As a med tech, not once.

PENDLETON  
That's quite a difference. (Beat) Sorry, what I mean is, to what do you attribute the difference?

BURR  
I finally became the one thing in life I can control.


	10. Cato Speaks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for references (only references) to:  
> \- Racial profiling  
> \- Police brutality  
> \- Wrongful arrest  
> \- Historical Hercules Mulligan and historical Cato's master-slave relationship  
> (but also references to historical Mulligan's turnaround)
> 
> Cato doesn't quite have an anxiety attack here, but he briefly freezes up and needs some soothing words before he can continue.

PENDLETON  
Mr. Diaketé, are you quite all right?

CATO  
_Please_ call me Cato. When someone in a legal context calls me anything else, it makes me nervous. Not - I've never committed a crime, before Mr. Weeks tries to take us down that avenue later...

WEEKS  
Objectio-

VAN NESS  
Levi. Cato's talking.

CATO  
(Surprised) Thanks. Long story short: at 17, walking back from a friend's house, I got tackled to the ground by a cop and hauled in for supposed gang involvement, and they kept me for longer than they should have been able to. Pretty sure I shouldn't have spent so much time in handcuffs, either. My parents were out of town. We didn't get much of an apology. A lawsuit would have been too expensive for us - it would have used up what we set aside to help out the relatives we left behind.

PENDLETON  
I hope you believe me when I tell you I'm horrified to hear that.

(Cato bunches a U.S. Postal Service uniform jacket in his hands and doesn't say anything.)

PENDLETON  
Would you like to call me Nathaniel, Cato? What's the origin of your name?

CATO  
Classical geekery. Geekishness. My, uh, my mother's an authority on Roman North Africa, has some papers out on the multicultural nature of the Empire and how it, um, how popular conceptions of history whitewashes it? Did you know that there were African-Roman Centurions stationed as far north as Hadrian's Wall? And some of them mummified their fallen comrades and left them in Britain?

PENDLETON  
(With sincere interest) I didn't know that. 

CATO  
My father's an expert on data encryption. (Deep breath, now thoroughly clutching at the jacket) Thanks for, uh. Thanks. Nathaniel. Ask me about the case now.

PENDLETON  
All right. Do you corroborate what Reverend Seabury said about your night shift check-in schedule?

CATO  
You mean that I unobtrusively peeked into the patients' rooms every half hour? That was true at the time. Now I vary the timing a little. Sometimes twenty minutes, sometimes forty, sometimes only fifteen. 

PENDLETON  
Why?

CATO  
So I don't screw things up again.

PENDLETON  
You believe it was your fault?

CATO  
Everyone's been very nice and says it wasn't. Someone made a card that says "Oh no, Cato's human!" and has me keep it in my wallet. (Smiles fondly) 

PENDLETON  
But _you_ believe it was your fault?

CATO  
Two patients had previously taken advantage of my predictability. It was for harmless, consensual fooling around that had to be stopped for the principle of the thing, not a big deal, so I was complacent. I should have changed it then. If I had...

PENDLETON  
Why the thirty-minute intervals?

CATO  
That's the regulation. I had to ask permission to change my pattern.

PENDLETON  
Whom did you ask?

CATO  
Normally a question like that would go to Director Howe, but he didn't come into work the night after George King was removed from the ward. Hercules - the main night shift nurse, my immediate superior - gave me unofficial permission, and I got the green light from Philip Schuyler later.

PENDLETON  
Would Howe have been informed about the first, minor infraction?

CATO  
Yes. I believe Molly Pitcher filled out the paperwork. 

PENDLETON  
Did he suggest any safety measures?

CATO  
Not that I know of. 

PENDLETON  
If you have your wallet with you, maybe take a peek at that card. Moving on: did you do anything else out of the ordinary that night? 

CATO  
After George King was removed? Yes. Hercules had heard from the other staff that Security Officer Cornwallis had tried to bully our ward's patients, and Herc wanted to know if he was doing it under orders or not. He got the keys to both Howe and Cornwallis' offices and gave them to me. I only went through the trash and desk drawers and so on. I didn't think hacked emails would be admissible and I'm leery of doing that kind of thing anyway. 

In the regulations, the nurse on duty can be absent for up to ten minutes at a time if the tech on duty is present, or the tech on duty can be absent for up to twenty minutes at a time if the nurse is present. So it made more sense for me to be the one. That's how I found the post-it note in Howe' office that says "sharps plant attempt failed". Exhibit 5.

PENDLETON  
We will present Exhibit 5 after you leave the stand and before Mr. Laurens takes it. Were you worried about getting in trouble?

CATO  
(Laughs wryly) It doesn't escape me that he set me up to get in way more trouble than he would have, and that I'm the one on the stand here being cross-examined. He apologized, though, says he'll "set me free" of my share of the paperwork for the rest of Ramadan. Theodosia said his testimony would be redundant if I was already giving mine, and mine had information his wouldn't. 

I got into the worst trouble of my life just for being a kid from Africa. Hercules said that if I was going to get in trouble anyway, I might as well get in trouble doing something important. Well, okay, what he really said was, "We're in the shit now, someone's gotta shovel it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Mulligan, someone's gotta shovel it. Which is why you sent your slave to carry messages to Hamilton, which put him in the path of the redcoats who hauled him in for lengthy, painful questioning before shrugging at the lack of results and returning him. 
> 
> On a lighter note, in this fic Cato doesn't say that when you're dating a mailman, your boyfriend also knows where almost everybody, including genial but sometimes manipulative bosses, lives. He said it to Hercules, though. With a wink.


	11. all soldiers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter-specific warnings for mentions of:
> 
> \- Past sexual harassment  
> \- Suicide attempts  
> \- a painful relationship with the Army  
> \- Gaslighting  
> \- Homophobia as excuse for gaslighting
> 
> It ends happily, though, promise.

J. LAURENS  
...What you need to understand is that I was less than a week out from trying to shoot myself in the mouth. Yet in the intervening time I'd received more positive support from more people than in my entire life, one where I've imagined death so much, it feels more like a memory. Not to discount my gratitude and debt to Lafayette and his wife, or the efforts of my previous best friend, or my sister or my mother before I lost them in one way or another. One or two people at a time isn't the same. Now several of those people, people from my miraculous, undeserved new family, were under threat.

WEEKS  
In the absence of any alleged knowledge of intent to "sabotage" the patients by supposedly planting "sharps" under the guise of a security search of belongings, you believe Mr. Cornwallis' demand to be a serious threat to them?

J. LAURENS  
Do you want to know why I saluted him and called him sir?

WEEKS  
Could you perhaps answer my question first, just for the sake of clarity?

J. LAURENS  
It's a multi-step answer. Bear with me. Whole truth and nothing but. 

WEEKS  
Okay.

J. LAURENS  
When the Army stationed me overseas, I wasn't there long before I got hurt and was sent home. I wasn't entirely sent home because my shoulder was such a wreck after it caught the brunt of shrapnel and had some of the ceiling fall on it. I was mostly a paper pusher, you know? They could have furloughed me instead of tossing me out, if that were all. 

I don't tell people this, but we're after truth now, Mr. Weeks, we're looking to understand context, right? They tossed me out because, while I was in the hospital, they looked through my medical records with a fine-toothed comb and learned that I'd hidden something. I wasn't in a position to slip it past them this time. That I'd tried to jump off a bridge during my freshman year of college. I think the only reason my discharge was quiet and without censure was embarrassment that they hadn't spotted it earlier.

(Grim smile) After I put up with five months of a superior officer blackmailing me, too. 

WEEKS  
With all due respect and utmost sympathy, I don't see how -

J. LAURENS  
Took advantage of me. Made me feel unsafe. Knew that people would believe him over me, anyway, and even if somehow they believed he did what he did, probably wouldn't think it was any harm. Didn't - didn't respect me, used my supposed unreliability, power imbalances, perceptions, I was a self-destructive damaged gay so surely I wanted...

VAN NESS  
Mr. Laurens, you can stop if you need to.

J. LAURENS  
Do I have to?

VAN NESS  
(Gently) No, but an explicit point would be appreciated. 

J. LAURENS  
Thank you, Your Honor. I've told you what he said to us. I've told you what panic there was. We weren't naughty children or disorderly rabble, ladies and gentlemen in the jury. We were soldiers, too, except we were fighting things inside ourselves. Do you know how hard that is when people won't treat you with dignity? Dignity _they swore they'd respect_?

My friends weren't going to get what I got. Couldn't let it happen. I think I was angry. I was so new to active emotion rather than passive, but looking back, I think I was angry. I had to make that point. I made that point. 

He ran away because he was ashamed; don't let him tell you otherwise when he takes the stand. If the world is a mess, keep fighting 'til the world turns upside down.

***

Notes (for Deborah's eyes only):

\- There were other testimonies, but I am not including them in this folder. These are the sensitive ones I am clearing with the respective witnesses before I include them in anything I will publish. Let me know if you got the email w/ the less sensitive notes attached

\- I'm planning to write a human interest thing about the afterparty we had, again only with permission of those involved. Yes, we had an afterparty, because

\- We won. _We won._ we won we won we won we won

J. Jay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you know that the murder trial of Levi Weeks was not only the first American murder trial we have records of, but it's also immensely helpful to historians studying the evolution of Americal legal process because a full transcript survives? And it's possible the jury was heavily influenced by exhaustion from Hamilton and Burr arguing on Weeks' behalf until 2 AM after a multi-day ordeal, court recesses also not yet a thing? 
> 
> (I like to imagine them deliberating and deciding that they might not all be certain about Weeks, but unanimously want Hamilton to stop talking.)
> 
> The real trial didn't happen until *after* Washington's administration, but LMM moved it to during "Non Stop" for thematic reasons. Weeks was declared innocent by the law but guilty in public opinion (of murdering a woman he'd been courting), so he ran off to another state and lived quietly as an architect. Got married and had a few kids. One of the buildings he designed is now a minor tourist attraction.


	12. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for joining me on yet another journey. "I Could Be a Morning Sunrise" has one more chapter to go, and I have plans for a new story after it, never fear.

My friends: these are my notes from the afterparty as I wandered around. I want everyone to have ample time to get back to me about whether you want me to remove something you said. I will probably not use everything anyway, but I need to know what I must not. 

A few of you have requested that I use fake names in all my writings about Vernon, which I will swap out for your real names before it goes to press. I have a key here as a final check to make sure I accurately rendered your requested pseudonyms. This draft has your real names, though, to prevent confusion.

Pierre Etienne = Peter Stephen  
Friedrich von Steuben = Will Vahn  
Martha Laurens = Mary Ramos  
John Laurens = Tony Ramos  
Alexander Hamilton = Javi Miranda (if you say so)  
Benjamin Franklin = Richard Almanac (really?)  
Cato Diaketé = Spartacus Elba 

John Adams has declined for me to quote him at all. Abigail says he's going through a phase and to leave it alone. 

Why am I bothering with full fake names rather than just fake first names? Thomas, James, Lewis, and all the staff requested that I use their full names in order to make a point, so everyone has to match. I don't want it to be obvious which names aren't real, though I will include a disclaimer that not all of them are. 

Lafayette, I respectfully veto using your full name, except maybe (maybe!) when it came up when you were on the stand. Sorry.

***

VON STEUBEN  
I still think the sentence should have been harsher. (Pounds table for emphasis. Continues to pound it. Continues even when Pierre puts his hand on top of his, but not so hard, until the tic passes.)

SEABURY  
I don't. The important thing is that they can't work in the mental healthcare field again. If you worked in prisons every day, you would...fuck, this is really good shrimp.

ETIENNE  
(Pretending to be scandalized, clearly amused) Why Sam!

SEABURY  
You would not only have misgivings about the prison system, but you would eventually start talking like your charges. (Smiles) If you'll excuse me, I'm going to have some more of this delicious pretentious beer. A nice buffet and an open bar! Thank you, Lafayette.

LAFAYETTE  
Why are you thanking me?

(Adrienne de) LAFAYETTE  
For someone paying for the lavish, over-the-top gesture of love and victory? He has powers of reason. 

***

MULLIGAN  
Hey Jay. Can I be a dinner nomad with you for a bit? I was sitting with Cato, but he's doing that thing where he's got his fork hovering right over his plate and counting down the seconds until official local-mosque-approved sunset. I felt guilty eating right next to him. And drinking. He's got two glasses of water and a glass of orange juice at his elbow. Doesn't normally talk as much as he did today. Also Israel shooed me away. Have you seen Angelica's baby? She brought her baby. We weren't supposed to bring kids, but a bunch of people begged to see the baby, so she's the exception.

ME  
Babies make me nervous.

MULLIGAN  
Then we will avoid the baby. I'm glad you're expressing your needs these days. It's very healthy.

ME  
I am also glad.

***

JEFFERSON  
My man, you ate a roll with your hands. You ate it with your hands.

J. MADISON  
(Grinning) I know! I didn't have to flip the placemats five times either!

***

D. MADISON  
Your wife was just telling me how proud she is of you. 

ME  
Thanks. Heh.

_This is irrelevant to the story, but I wanted to share._

***

E. SCHUYLER  
So what would you like to do?

HAMILTON  
Um. Uh. Do you like it uptown? Uptown DC, I mean.

E. SCHUYLER  
It's quiet uptown. You never used to like the quiet before.

HAMILTON  
People change. 

(She takes his hand. He uses his free hand to give her some of his fish off his plate.)

E. SCHUYLER  
How'd you know I like tilapia?

HAMILTON  
I interrogated Peggy a few minutes ago, over by the salad. There's a really good seafood restaurant in Dupont Circle. Thom - Thom Pinckney, not Mr. Plateful of Macaroni Salad over there - took me once. 

E. SCHUYLER  
(Kisses him)

***

M. LAURENS  
(Hits her glass repeatedly with a fork) Has everyone taken their dinner meds?!

J. LAURENS  
Oh my God, Missy.

(Edward "Ned") STEVENS  
I think you should appreciate your sister's dedication to her job. Also, have you?

J. LAURENS  
Dammit, forgot my pill box -

STEVENS  
Here you go.

***

LUDINGTON  
Was I badass? I was badass, right? Badass girls deserve all the pasta they want.

(MARGARITA "PEGGY") SCHUYLER  
You always deserve all the pasta you want. 

J. CHURCH  
The fettuccine's little too spicy for me. Would you like the rest?

***

DIAKETÉ  
_(you don't mind being called that outside a courtroom, right, Cato? Let me know if I'm triggering)_

(Dropping his fork, which clatters on the floor) Are you serious?

(Everyone turns to look at him)

ISRAEL BISSELL  
Also, I'm going to quit working at Vernon on Sundays now that I've paid off my car loan, so I'll have more time to spend...

DIAKETÉ  
You're not doing this to make me feel better about being a gay Muslim immigrant in the current climate, right?

BISSELL  
No, no, no. Never. I've been thinking about it. 

(PAUL) REVERE  
What's going on? What's going on?

LUDINGTON  
This is a marriage proposal, Paul, keep up. 

BISSELL  
I wasn't planning on everyone staring at us while I waited for an answer. I was going to do this in private, I swear, but everyone told me how amazing you were in court and it sort of slipped out. I couldn't hold it in. I know people will say I'm rushing, I'm a guy who rushes, but it can be a year from now, maybe more. I just want to ask. Need to ask.

DIAKETÉ  
Sweetheart. Wow. Um. You realize that's not a straightforward thing, right? 

BISSELL  
Crap, sorry, sorry, I shouldn't have - 

DIAKETÉ  
Ssh. You're fine. I'm honored. It's not, like, a 'never', especially if we're talking purely civil. There are just a lot of factors, some of which you can probably guess and some of which I'll share when we're in private. Don't feel bad. You're an impulsive guy. If I didn't like you the way you are, we wouldn't be together. Okay? I swear that I'll be around for you. (Rubs his back comfortingly) 

BISSELL  
I'll make a million mistakes, but I'll make it right for you. 

***

(MARIA) REYNOLDS  
I was so scared. Was anyone else scared? I wasn't even the one testifying, but it involved me, and somehow that made it worse in a way. To have my name associated with something but not get much say in it. 

T. BURR  
I get what you mean.

A. BURR  
I was terrified.

ETIENNE  
(returning from chocolate fountain) You were?

A. BURR  
I needed to make the ward safe and sound for you. All of you.

ETIENNE  
I'd hug you if I weren't so sticky.

LAFAYETTE  
(also returning from chocolate fountain) You are rarely so fastidious.

ETIENNE  
Aaron is fastidious. (Pause) So's your face.

*** 

(MERIWETHER) LEWIS  
Sorry I'm late. (Hugs J. Laurens)

J. LAURENS  
You've only wronged yourself. I think Adrienne is on a mission to single handedly eat everything with tomatoes in it.

A.LAF  
It is my prerogative to do so. I have a future aristocrat growing inside me.

ETIENNE  
Hey Lewis? Lewis? Lewis?

HAMILTON  
Did Friedrich let you have espresso?

ETIENNE  
None of you are my parents.

VON STEUBEN  
(Pausing in his conversation with Abigail Adams a few tables over) I find that concept horrifying, I will have you know.

HAMILTON  
Translation: Pierre's had a lot of coffee.

LAFAYETTE  
His medications make him very sensitive to stimulants.

PIERRE  
_Casse-toi, Marquis._

LAFAYETTE  
Tch, naughty.

A. LAF  
Very.

ETIENNE  
(Something in French, very fast.) 

LAFAYETTES  
(French replies)

ETIENNE  
Lewis?

LEWIS  
Yes, buddy?

ETIENNE  
Yes, buddy? I'm leaving the day after tomorrow to be with my parents for the rest of the summer. They got back to San Francisco from a month in Hanoi yesterday. But I'm doing an independent study next semester on efforts to revive indigenous languages, and, and, if she's not too busy, do you think Sacagawea could help me find sources? Not just because of her heritage, but because she works for the Bureau of Indian affairs. (Starts rubbing a hand up and down his own left knee.) I'd cite her.

LEWIS  
Of course. Let me eat something and I'll dig one of her business cards out of my wallet. I'll tell her you're a friend.

***

FRANKLIN  
Do you identify as schizophrenic? It doesn't really matter as long as you're getting better and maintaining mental health, but just wondering. Not everyone thinks of themselves as their diagnosis. You should have seen how Byron carried on when anyone brought it up. 

SEABURY  
They weren't completely sure where to put me. No psychosis, only delusions, and not exactly in a box. They say I'm on that spectrum, unless maybe I'm more on the anxiety spectrum, or perhaps some combination. I identify as someone who needs to take medications and have help staying steady. Did you try the shrimp? It's good shrimp.

***

JEFFERSON  
I'm going to miss having you as a buffer between me and Hamilton.

LAFAYETTE  
You will thrive from opposition. Thank you for your help drafting that essay on human rights.

JEFFERSON  
You're welcome. I'm afraid I gotta go. Work at home begins. 

LAFAYETTE  
Oh?

JEFFERSON  
Summer vacation. Patsy does art camp and stuff, but she's home at night.

***

WASHINGTON  
I'm so proud of you, Alexander.

HAMILTON  
Just the truth, that's all. Ew, this cake has marzipan.

WASHINGTON  
May I hug you?

HAMILTON  
Since when do you hug anyone in public?

WASHINGTON  
Gilbert has hugged me four times during this banquet alone.

HAMILTON  
He's really divided about going back to France. His stupid father's will says when he turns 30 he has to personally take over the estate and all the property and investments, when he clearly hates...

MARTHA WASHINGTON  
(Gently) Hug your not-stupid father substitute, honey.

HAMILTON  
Fine. 

(The hug is lengthy, and Hamilton clings like he'll blow away if he lets go.)

***

J. LAURENS  
You haven't fought with Thomas all evening. I'm impressed.

E. SCHUYLER  
Don't remind him! (Grabs Alexander's arm)

HAMILTON  
It's fine. If you need someone to keep James calm and John Adams too busy to bother me, Jefferson has my vote.

***

PITCHER  
Your partner in exposing crime is taking notes.

SAMPSON  
(Sipping a cocktail) So he is. Having fun?

ME  
It's nice feeling my surroundings for a change. I feel like I know everyone for the first time.

SARAH JAY  
Have you eaten? Sit down and eat. These ladies are fascinating.

(At which point I ate. Molly confiscated my notepad until I'd consumed calories to her satisfaction.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spartacus led a slave uprising, and this version of Cato likes James Bond and wholeheartedly supports the campaign for Idris Elba to be the next one.


End file.
